Slaking and Slack Off

[Absolution]

When battling in Battle Tower and in VS. battles against friends, it seems that this ability is very fickle. Sometimes after an attack, Slack Off prevents one from retreating (doesn't allow the player to choose), yet other times it seems it does. Also, if the player is allowed to switch out, when Slaking is brought back out, sometimes it is slacking, other times it isn't.

So my question is, is this just a problem with certain Slakings or is Slack Off just that random? Does anyone know? It's baffling me, lol.

[Jhem]

Maybe it has something to do with the speed of Slaking. If Slaking is faster, it will use Slack Off (the move) first, then the opponent will be able to attack before you can even get a chance to choose retreating. As for the slacking off (the innate ability) when Slaking comes out.. I think maybe if you retreat SLaking the turn it is supposed to slack off, then it will slack off the next time it comes out. But, if you retreat it on a turn in which it can attack, then you will be able to attack next time before he slacks off. Does that sound like it makes sense?

[Absolution]

The trouble is, Jhem, is it doesn't work that way. And it is definitely not speed issues...it has 252 evs in speed and it's ivs were spectacular...

The issues all came up when I was battling my girlfriend. She has a Slaking with superior stats, mine are only a slight worse. When we battle, 3v3, her Slaking will for instance attack one of my guys, KOing it, and after the attack, will not get the option to retreat the next turn (for slack off). Then, I will send out my Slaking, KO her Slaking while it is stuck out there, then after I KO it, I am given the option to retreat. I do not understand the inconsitency here. We've been testing it out and it still confuses us.

[Jhem]

Hmm, then I don't know what the problem is :think:

[DragonTamer]

If by Slack Off you mean truant, then I think I know what the problem is. If Slaking uses Hyper Beam, then it will be unable to switch out immediately afterwards because it has to charge. If you were to use an attack such as earthquake or something that only requires a turn, then you can switch it out right afterwards. Kind of weird huh. That's why when battling with slaking with Hyper Beam and Earthquake for example, if Earthquake would KO the opponent, then just use Earthquake so that you can switch out if needed. Your next question however, I do not know the answer to.

As for the sending him into battle and having the problem, um I'm not exactly sure why because it's only happened to me once before. I think it might have something to do with the fact that it was sent out earlier in the battle, returned, and then sent out later. I think it has to do with the number of turns from when it was returned and sent out the second time like if it was an odd number or even number of turns. I've still got to test it out but I'll let you know when I do. Maybe someone else will know for sure though.

[Necrobat]

If you're battling on the game and have the Switch setting on, you shouldn't have to worry about it. I do it all the time with Dragonite on Silver, so it should work for Slaking as well.

[~Bayleef~]

If a Slaking uses Solarbeam will it's Truant ability be a problem?

Say if Slaking takes in sunlight, will it loaf around because of Truant on the second turn or will it take in sunlight and then use Solarbeam on the second turn?

[DragonTamer]

If a slaking uses solarbeam then it will take in sunlight but then will do nothing because of truant. It will not use solarbeam on the next turn you attack. The only way slaking can pull off a solarbeam would be if it was sunny or you did something like use skill swap... but there's better moves for slaking than solarbeam so don't bother with it.